Someone suggested Landscape Spray Chalk. I just looked it up. The label claims it's environmentally friendly, but it contains toluene, acetone and xylene. I need something without those kinds of ingredients.

To clarify: I need to mark which plants in a very large garden are to be kept and which are to be pulled.

There are too many to do something like tie a string around the stalk that would then have to be removed. Besides, string probably wouldn't show up well enough.

If it is just for that day you could put a bit of lime around the plants you want to dig up.

They are growing too close together for that.

Don't they make a spray in cans that is safe enough to spray? I should think they would. Or you could concoct your own. With food coloring and water. That would "mark" the plants to go, without harming the ones to remain. :)

Tina

Can you stick a short bamboo stake in each plant to be kept, or are there too many for that?

Hello - just a quick note to say that the hardware stores sell a wide bright red/orange marking tape that I use a lot of to tie around plants that I want to find later on. You can wrap your plants with it very easily.
Does this mean you have lots and lots of plant material to give away now ????

This probably sounds stupid, but I am trying to think outside the box... The street crew just patched cracks in our street. They covered the tar lines with toilet paper, so it doesn't track and because it eventually disintegrates with rain, so is self cleaning.

Depending on how long the "mark" needs to stay put, maybe a wad of TP in each plant would work. The TP on the street has lasted about a week already. I would guess, the larger the wad, the longer it would last. Nice thing is nature will take clean it up. gramma jan